Firefight
by ALEO
Summary: An FBI agent can never let down his guard. Short, two chapter fic. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Numb3rs: Firefight

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own them, I just borrowed them. Numb3rs and its characters are the property of those that created them. No copyright infringement intended. No financial reward gained. All real places and organisations are used in a fictional sense. Original characters and the storyline are mine however._

_**Spoilers:**__ In Security (vaguely)_

_**A/N:**__ Written for Clue Challenge #1, July 2009, at hurt_don on LiveJournal. Prompts: __**Who?**__ – Don. __**What? **__– firework. __**Where?**__ - park._

**CHAPTER ONE**

FBI Special Agent Don Eppes was forced to drive the heavy suburban slowly down the congested streets surrounding Macarthur Park. Breaking heavily a couple of times he managed to avoid the pedestrians that simply stepped out in front of him, too excited about the coming fireworks to watch for something as mundane as passing traffic. Another near miss and his frustration bubbled over as the heavy vehicle screeched to a stop, his fist pressing firmly on the modified horn. The man holding the hands of two young children stared back like a startled rabbit before continuing on his way with a glare that suggested it was all Don's fault. Robin's hand on his arm had him easing off after a second or so before he drove on, completely unrepentant about the stares his action had drawn. Eventually he found the section he was looking for, a taped off area reserved for emergency services vehicles. As he was still on call, even after his long day, he pulled up to the officer on the temporary gate across the entrance. Flashing his badge got them through and into one of the few remaining spots near some ambulances and several LAPD black & whites.

Shutting the rumbling vehicle down Don simply sat for a few moments, head back and eyes closed as he tried to relax. The day had started off perfectly but had rapidly gone downhill from there due to forces completely out of his control.

"Don?"

He didn't immediately react to the gentle hand on his right arm. The drive from the office had been conducted in silence as his mood deteriorated. It was a few more seconds before he replied somewhat gruffly. "Yeah?"

"There was nothing you could do."

"We got the bastard!"

Robin winced at the forceful tone. No less frustrated herself she was able to keep her voice calm. The day had been ruined, no need for the night to go the same way. "You got him, sealed and delivered. There was no way of knowing that he was in the system."

"Another one. They should change their motto, 'come to WitSec and get a free pass on anything you do'."

"Come on, Don. You know it's not like that."

"Do I? They've done it before. I'm letting them do it again."

"You hardly let them." Robin reminded him. His angry phone call an hour after his exultant one had her scouring through the various pieces of legislation looking for some crucial piece of law that would enable them to keep Victor Rodan off the street and in custody. She'd failed.

"Doesn't matter. He's getting away with everything." Don argued back. "Months of investigation and the moment we nail him they step in. Where were they when he killed that kid? Where were they when he was pushing his drugs in the neighbourhood, to the kids in the schools? Where were they when he started up his protection racket? No, they don't care about that but when we take him into custody we're 'interfering with a federally protected witness'."

Robin jumped as his hand slammed into the steering wheel. Despite the blow-up this was one of the things she loved about him, he cared deeply about his work. She'd been in the office during the course of this investigation, even when it had been running parallel to a current hot case there were always pictures and files relating to Rodan on display. The investigation had taken a lot out of him and his team, Rodan had been a difficult offender to get evidence on. Now it became clear, he'd had years of experience hiding from the law under his still unknown real identity. Upon being moved to LA six months ago he'd rapidly set himself up as a player and was steadily increasing his prominence in the underworld even as he maintained a veneer of innocence that had been difficult to penetrate despite all their suspicions. Eventually Don had turned over a small piece of evidence that had snowballed into a sudden avalanche of material that had culminated in the arrest early this morning. It was immediately after Rodan's name had gone through the booking computer system that it all fell apart. WitSec stepped in and demanded the return of their witness. There had been nothing they could do to prevent it and three hours ago both she and Don had watched the WitSec agents escort a smug Rodan from the bullpen. It had taken those three hours for Don to calm down enough to contemplate joining his family at the park. The congested traffic and oblivious pedestrians had undone much of what she'd already achieved.

"Come on, Don." Robin started, using her best soothing tone. "It's done. You've built a case and it can be activated the moment Rodan leaves the program. He's giving his evidence soon and once he's done that they won't be quite as protective. He'll slip up again and they'll wash their hands of him."

"Yeah, I guess." Don allowed. But until then Rodan, or whatever his new name was going to be, would have free rein to resume his activities in some other city.

"Come on," she repeated, this time changing the subject. "They'll be waiting. It won't be long now before the show starts."

Running his hand down his face he turned to see Robin staring back at him. The wash of the streetlights showed her concern and he abruptly felt guilty. He'd already dumped all of this on her back at the office, she'd even cleaned up the file he'd thrown at the glass wall after Rodan's back without complaint or comment. He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax.

"You're right. I'm sorry." He reached over and gave her hand an apologetic squeeze before opening his door and climbing out.

Robin linked her arm through his and they moved off, heading towards the closed off section of Wilshire Boulevard where it passed through the park. The road had been turned into a temporary mall for the coming fireworks. The show was actually being put on over at the Dodger's stadium but getting a parking space or a seat there would be impossible so they'd decided they would watch this year from MacArthur Park. Actually it had been Charlie's suggestion, he'd known his older brother had to work today and MacArthur Park was close to the field office. Going by the hundreds of other people doing the same thing the park was a popular choice. Pushing their way through the growing crowds they made it to a spot about halfway along Wilshire Boulevard and found the others waiting. Spying a relatively quite spot nearby the group moved off.

"Hey, Bro'." Charlie started once they could hear themselves think over the crowd noise. "I didn't think you were going to make it."

"You and me both." Don said as he nodded his greetings to his father, Amita and Larry. They all knew what had happened, Charlie had been at the office when it had all fallen apart. It had been the math professor's algorithms that had sealed the case once they'd gathered the data for him.

"Well, I'm glad you could make it." Alan stepped in, clapping a sympathetic, fatherly hand on Don's shoulder. "You did your best Donny, that's all you can do."

In keeping with trying to improve his mood he clamped down on the first reply that came to mind. He nodded at his father before catching the CalSci professors' eyes in turn. "Yeah, we did. So did you guys. Thanks for your help on this."

Larry and Amita simply nodded. They'd had some input helping Charlie and knew how hard the FBI team had worked to take Rodan down only to loose him.

"So, I found us a spot with the optimum viewing angle." Charlie started as he waved at them to follow him.

That brought a smile to Don's lips as he shook his head. Trust Charlie to apply math to watching a fireworks display. It had been the same ever since they were little, Charlie would figure out the best spot to watch from then spend the whole display calculating trajectories and angles and whatever else from each individual explosion. They reached the spot and Don helped with spreading out the blankets and setting their site up. Alan had brought along some food but Don had a sudden desire for the all American hotdog and said as much.

Charlie looked at the prepared food and then back up at his older brother. "Don, I-"

"Alright, Charlie. I'll get you one too. Anyone else?"

Alan shook his head. "I don't know why you'd want hotdogs when we brought all this."

"Aw, Dad. It's the Fourth of July. Hotdogs go with the Fourth of July." Don stated. "Counsellor?"

Robin had already started picking at the food, they'd missed lunch and she was starving. She wasn't sure if he was asking for her professional constitutional position or if she wanted one of the unhealthy hotdogs instead of the salad and sandwiches Alan had prepared. She answered the first then moved onto the second. "You've got a point, but no hotdog for me. You better be quick though, it's about to start."

"Right. Two hot-dogs." Don repeated the order as turned and headed back to the stalls set up on the closed off street. He'd seen several hotdog vendors on the way in and was aiming for the one that had looked the most promising.

Avoiding the crowds around all the stalls he made his way along parallel to the road through the park, here there were still groups of people but not as many. He had reached a small clump of trees and started to move around them when he received a hard shove from behind. Caught completely off balance he stumbled forward, striking his forehead on a tree before bouncing off and falling to the ground temporarily stunned. For a moment he couldn't see around the stars in his eyes or the around his hand on his injured forehead so he had no warning before the foot collected his ribs, flipping him over.

Half winded Don now realised what was happening and tried desperately to climb to his feet and orient himself. A hand grabbed at his collar when he was halfway up and propelled him forward, deeper into the clump of trees and out of casual sight. Tripping over a patch of uneven ground he went down again. Rolling he forced himself up only to have his feet tripped out from under him. His left ankle sent a spike of pain up his leg and he figured he'd sprained it. The shadowing figure of his attacker moved back and started speaking.

"What? No gun?" The man seemed surprised. "Didn't think I'd come looking for you, did you?"

Recognising the voice Don got his feet back under him and stood with the assistance of a small tree. Testing his foot he found that though painful he could put weight on it. Reminded of his weapon he started to sweep his hand towards the holster hidden under his jacket as he sought out his attacker but he froze before his hand had moved more than a few inches.

Standing in front of him was Rodan, the extra illumination from the lights of the stalls shining through the trees gave him enough light to confirm the identification of both the man and the weapon that he held. The black semi-automatic was pointed right at the agent's midsection.

"I thought you were smarter than this." Don started as he brought his hands up. He flicked his gaze around and confirmed what he'd first thought, the man was alone.

"Sometimes you have to take risks, especially if the reward is worth it." Rodan stated reasonably.

"What reward would that be?"

"And I thought you were smarter than that." Rodan taunted. Glancing ever so briefly upwards as the first explosion reached them he lowered his pistol and pulled the trigger.

Don saw the flash just as he felt the pain in his left leg, the sound of the gunshot almost lost in the first of the fireworks. His leg buckled and he went down on one knee as he drew in a hissing breath. The round had gone through the side of his lower leg just below his knee, his probing hand determined that the bone was unbroken, it had been the shock to his system that had caused his leg to collapse. He didn't waste any thought on wondering why the shot had seemingly been deliberately placed where it had, he was still alive and that was all that mattered. Gritting his teeth he pushed himself back up, watching as Rodan's weapon carefully tracked his movement.

He had to keep the criminal talking in the hope that someone knew he'd made his escape and was hunting him. "So what, WitSec let you out to watch the fireworks?"

Rodan laughed without amusement. "Hardly. Idiots, the lot of them. Not like you."

Don's eyes narrowed at the backhanded compliment as he indicated the weapon held on him. "Not that it has done me any good."

Rodan lifted the gun slightly and Don tensed but there was no second shot, not yet. "This? You made it easy for me, arguing with that hot prosecutor back at the FBI." His voice rose, taking on a falsetto pitch as he twisted Robin's words. "Oh, Donny, lets go watch the pretty fireworks, you'll feel better."

"Leave her out of this!" Don growled. The fact that she and everyone else he cared about were only a short distance away fired up his protective instincts. Rodan must have followed them here to have found him so quickly, the criminal would know who he was with and where they were.

"Ooh. Got a thing for her have you?" The twisted grin on his face showed that Rodan had already come to that conclusion.

"You're here for me, not her." Desperate to get the criminal thinking about him rather than Robin, Don managed to take half a step forward. He kept his hands up and away from the holster hidden under his light jacket in the hope that Rodan would continue to act under his assumption that the agent was unarmed. Rodan had seemingly come to that conclusion when Don hadn't immediately produced a weapon earlier, apparently not seeing the agent's aborted attempt for it due to the darkness. He had to wait for his chance, as things stood now he knew he didn't have time to draw before Rodan could take him out. "What are you waiting for?"

"I need to set an example. The next one is going to go into your right knee. Call it a trademark if you will. I won't miss this time."

"'Set an example'?" He repeated as he tried to ignore the chill that ran down his spine at the trademark comment. That explained why the last shot had been intended to wound, to kneecap him but not kill. Rodan had done the same with the kid he'd killed recently, maiming him first by starting with the kneecaps and some more carefully placed shots before finishing him off. He thanked whoever was listening that the last shot had missed the intended target. He wouldn't be standing now, albeit with the support of a tree, if the criminal's aim had been better. "Just killing a fed not enough for you?"

"Not hardly. You've shut down my whole operation. I had such a sweet deal running."

"Still do." Don couldn't help the bitterness that crept into his voice.

"You have any idea how hard it is to set everything up?" Rodan complained, completely ignoring the comment. "I have to start over again."

"You expect sympathy? Poor little criminal, shut down by the feds?" Don was trying to provoke a reaction, an angry response that would hopefully give him an opening. "I'm going to track you and shut you down again." The threat was a hollow one, WitSec would never allow him to become aware of where their precious witness had gone. Assuming he survived this encounter to do any tracking, that was.

"Yeah, right." Rodan responded contemptuously. He knew as well as the agent did just how weak that threat really was. He added his own threat, one he had every intention of completing and the ability to carry out whenever he wanted. "You gonna haunt me?"

"If that's what it takes." Don snapped back. Wondering at the delay before the next shot he realised that the first stage of the fireworks was over, the noise of the gunshot would not be masked if he fired just yet. Rodan was taking a huge risk by coming after the agent but he was still being careful and obviously planned on walking away when he was done.

"Tough guy. I was warned about you when you started sniffing around. I was going to take you out but figured I didn't need the heat. If I'd known about your friends then,' Rodan trailed off wistfully with a faint shrug.

Don swallowed as he realised Rodan had been tracking him just as he'd been tracking the criminal. His brother, Amita, Larry and even probably his father had all been identified but fortunately, from the sounds of things, by the time he'd figured out their roles it had been too late for the criminal to try anything.

Rodan suddenly adjusted his aim, lowering the muzzle in preparation for the next shot, the second stage of the fireworks wouldn't be far away now. He grinned. "Once I've finished with you maybe I'll finish them as well."

.

_A/N: Final chapter up tomorrow._


	2. Chapter 2

Numb3rs: Firefight

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own them, I just borrowed them. Numb3rs and its characters are the property of those that created them. No copyright infringement intended. No financial reward gained. All real places and organisations are used in a fictional sense. Original characters and the storyline are mine however._

**CHAPTER TWO**

Don heard the words all too clearly even as the next round of fireworks started up. He dove to one side just as Rodan pulled the trigger. The round missed. Don scrambled to get behind the next tree for some cover, his movements slowed by his injured leg and protesting ribs. Rodan was moving in quickly as the agent finally got his own gun drawn. Rodan still got the next shot off, firing quickly as he saw that his intended victim was armed after all. Another miss and now it was Rodan who was seeking cover as Don fired.

The bright flashes of light from the fireworks overhead did nothing for his night vision, the light from the stalls no longer providing sufficient illumination. He had to move, Rodan should be just as affected but staying in the same position would be foolhardy. Blinking hard to try and see he moved over to the next tree, away from the criminal's last known position. But it was no longer a simple matter of keeping himself alive, he had to keep track of Rodan to ensure he didn't go after Robin and the others as he'd threatened. The criminal would be mad to try it but he'd already come after the agent, it was not too much of a stretch to believe the threat. Don started to reach for his phone to call Charlie and warn them of the possible danger but had to discard that idea in favour of firing back as Rodan again shot at him. Chips of wood flew into his face as he ducked back, bringing up his hand to wipe away the splinters.

Don moved on again but was caught out in the open by a particularly large and bright red explosion of light from overhead. He saw Rodan catch sight of him and desperately he again dove to the ground and rolled as two shots whistled his way. Prone, Don fired back and saw his round hit the criminal in the side. Rodan staggered but made it to the protection of another tree.

"Give this up, Rodan." Don called, shouting over the noise of the fireworks. "The cops will be all over us soon."

"Maybe they'll do my job for me." Rodan shouted back.

Realising the man was probably right Don took the risk and moved to another tree, this time closer. When the LAPD responded they would only see two men shooting at each other and were likely to try to take them both down. If he were to attempt to identify himself and surrender to them he would just open himself up to being shot by Rodan. He had to take the criminal out himself. Another explosion overhead, green this time, illuminated the area once again. Rodan was sheltering behind the next tree over, barely three yards away. Fortune had the criminal scanning in a different direction as he sought his victim. Don held still, taking careful aim at the unprotected part of Rodan's body as he waited for him to move just a little more to his left. Another couple of colourful explosions passed then the man moved. Automatically the agent's finger tightened on his trigger and the bullet went exactly as aimed, straight into the criminal's left hip, right at the head of the femur.

Rodan let out a scream of agony as he fell to the ground, there was no way that his damaged leg could support his weight. Not finished yet he swung his weapon wildly around towards the agent's general direction and started firing blindly. Don knew that not all the bullets would be stopped by the trees and that he had no choice, there were too many people around. He fired quickly, and he hoped accurately, at the dark shape. Three shots later Rodan slumped back and stopped moving.

Advancing cautiously in case the man was playing possum Don closed in and tried to see in the sudden darkness. He realised at that point that the fireworks had stopped again and that their last exchange of shots had been without that cover. Continuing on his task as screams started up nearby he picked up Rodan's weapon, tucking it into his belt before backing away. The criminal appeared to be dead but he kept his own weapon on target as he fumbled for the cell phone at his waist. He just got the call through to Control when the first LAPD officers arrived.

"LAPD, drop your weapon!" A bright flashlight was aimed his way, completely destroying what night vision he had remaining, precisely as intended.

"FBI!" Don responded as he immediately complied with the order. He dropped his phone as well, needing to show two empty hands to the officers.

"Hands behind your head." The same officer ordered. "Do not move."

Carefully shifting his weight to his right leg as his left started complaining Don repeated his identification adding, "My ID is in my pocket."

"Then you know the drill. Turn around."

Now that the action was over he was finding his left leg was very painful and it was getting difficult to place any weight on it. He managed well enough however to obey the officer's orders and turned away so that the officer could approach him safely from behind. Cold metal snapped around his left wrist and he cooperated as the officer cuffed him. He turned his head carefully and saw that the second officer was checking on the downed man, running his own flashlight over the body before looking up and shaking his head.

Hands patted him down, finding and removing Rodan's weapon from his belt. The same hands found the leather wallet in his pocket and pulled it out. A bright flare of light reflected back off the badge and card as the credentials were inspected. The officer moved around and carefully compared the image on the card with the bloodied face in his flashlight.

"My name is Special Agent Don Eppes, badge number 3695, Los Angeles Field Office of the FBI." Don identified as he squinted against the light. He shifted again as his left leg threatened to collapse out from under him. It seemed that the ducking and weaving he'd done had exacerbated the sprain to his ankle. The bullet wound wasn't helping matters either. He had to put most of his weight onto his right, his cuffed hands making it difficult to balance. The flashlight abruptly tracked down his body before clicking off.

"You're injured, Agent."

"Yeah." He refrained from adding _'nice of you to notice'_.

"Let me get those cuffs off." The officer offered finally, moving back in. "Mike, call for some EMTs."

"On it." The other officer responded.

The cuffs came off and he was helped down to sit leaning against a tree. "Can I have my cell phone?" Don asked, pointing at the device a yard or so away.

"Sure."

"Anyone else hurt?" He asked as the officer handed the phone over.

"We have a female with a graze to her shoulder. Looks like we were lucky, there's just the one that we know of so far." The officer reported, his voice a touch reproachful as if he was thinking that the agent had forced the confrontation.

"Wasn't my choice, Officer. He got the drop on me." Don explained at the tone. Instigating an armed standoff around crowds was not generally allowed by either of their playbooks.

"Oh, sorry." He meant it.

The officer moved away to help his partner check the body as Don lifted the phone. As expected Control were waiting on the line, informing him that they'd started a trace for his location as per procedure and were about to send some agents. He gave a quick briefing and hung up. There was another call that he needed to make but before he finished dialling two EMTs appeared through the trees. He wasn't surprised at their quick appearance, he'd earlier noted that there had been several EMTs hanging around next to the ambulances back at the parking lot which was only about fifty yards away. They would have been only seconds behind the police to the scene but would have been forced to wait for clearance.

His call had to wait until they'd finished their initial assessment and had helped him onto the stretcher. The tally came to some superficial cuts and bruising to his face, bruised ribs, a badly sprained ankle which was already swelling and a messy gunshot wound. No surprises there, it could have been so much worse.

Pressing 'send' on his phone he waited. "_Oh, hey, Don."_ Charlie's welcome voice sounded in his ear. _"Where were you? I thought you were just getting hotdogs."_

"Yeah, well something came up." Don said a little wryly. Taking a careful breath he couldn't quite bring himself to get to the point of his call just yet. "Was it good from where you were?"

"_Spectacular as always, Larry's still speechless. There was something odd though."_

"Yeah, Buddy?"

"_There were some anomalous explosions. I mean we heard the fireworks going off but there were no visuals to go with them. I've never heard so many misfires before."_

Charlie had brought him around to the point of his call. "It wasn't an anomaly, Charlie. They weren't fireworks."

"_What are you saying Don?"_ Charlie asked carefully, concern creeping into his voice. _"Where are you?"_

"I'm on the northwest side of the park, near where Robin and I came in." He hesitated but it had to be said. "Rodan was here."

"_What! How? But he-" _Charlie stopped himself._ "What happened?"_

"He ambushed me. We got into a firefight. He's dead."

"_Are you alright? You don't sound alright. We're heading over now."_

"I'll be fine, Charlie. I-"

Charlie cut him off, continuing to talk quickly. _"You'll be fine? That means you were hurt."_

"Yeah, they're about to take me to hospital." Don sighed, he hated this part. It was almost better when they didn't know when he got hurt. "I got shot, but I'm going to be fine. It's a through and through, no biggie." He added quickly at the gasp.

"_We'll be there in a minute."_

"Head over to my car, that's where the ambulance is. Robin will show you where." Don instructed as the EMTs started to carry him towards the sidewalk where they'd be able to use the stretcher's wheels on the path.

"_Wait for us."_ Charlie ordered.

Waiting turned out not to be a problem. By the time the EMTs had manoeuvred the stretcher through the crowded sidewalk and out to the ambulance Charlie and the others were already there, having made better time cutting directly across the park.

"Donny!" Alan moved in first, every inch the protective father.

With the group of people moving in to surround their patient the EMTs locked the stretcher's wheels and moved to pack away the rest of their gear, the patient was not so badly wounded that a few minutes wouldn't hurt.

"Dad, I'm fine."

"Fine? You're not fine. I wish you'd stop saying that every time you get hurt."

"Alright, I'm sorry. But it's nothing serious, okay?"

"Charlie said you were shot. That's hardly not serious."

"It went straight through, Dad." Don protested. He caught the eye of one of the paramedics, waving the woman over. "Tell him."

Alan grumbled as he listened to the woman explain his son's injuries. Coming from an independent source he would have to accept that his son would be alright. Meanwhile Don was quickly explaining to Robin and Charlie what had happened. With his father still distracted the agent added the threats that Rodan had made against all of them.

"What were WitSec doing?" Robin demanded, pulling out her own cell to start making calls. She stalked off as she waited for her first to connect. "Heads are going to roll for this. Taking him out of secure custody- … Hello?"

"Boy, she's mad." Charlie commented as Robin reported what had happened into her phone.

Don would have been angry too, but the after affects of the adrenalin and the knowledge that he'd just taken another life had him feeling rather flat. He'd had no choice but that didn't make it any easier. He also knew there would be hard questions asked of him as a result of his passionate arguing against WitSec taking Rodan in the first place. He knew he had nothing to worry about, the ballistic evidence would show that but the investigation into the shooting would be extra thorough and take some time as a consequence.

"Agent, we need to go." The female EMT said, wedging her way through to his side.

Don looked over to see Alan already climbing up into the ambulance to ride with him. Charlie started to join him but Don called him back, reaching under the blanket for the keys in his pocket. "You can follow in my truck or give the keys to Robin, she'll need a ride."

As Charlie, Amita and Larry started making arrangements amongst themselves the EMTs loaded the stretcher into the ambulance, locking it into place. An oxygen mask was produced and the usual monitors attached. Don saw the odd look on his father's face as he pre-empted the EMTs by raising his hand before they'd even reached for the monitors. Alan was clearly realising that Don must have gone through this procedure a few more times than he knew of to be so familiar with it.

A few hours later Don was signing the release papers to more of his father's grumbles and was ready to head home. The doctor had suggested that he should stay for the rest of the night at least but upon being pressed had agreed it was not essential. Don had seized on that and was signing himself out. The wound had not required full surgery, just some local anaesthetic and quite a few stitches. With bandages for his ankle and the cuts on his face cleaned with antiseptic solution he was done, there was nothing more they could really do.

Arriving back at Charlie's house they found David, Colby and Nikki already waiting, along with Robin. It was getting late and he was exhausted but Don managed to give another account of what had happened to his team before receiving the expected news that agents from the shooting team would be visiting in the morning. David had already spoken to their union and they would have a rep and a lawyer around first thing to provide support.

Don finally got a chance to ask the question. "So what happened with WitSec? How did they loose Rodan?"

"They didn't know he was gone until we called them." Robin said angrily. She'd left shortly after they'd arrived at the hospital to follow up on how Rodan had gotten loose. "They'd stashed him at the hotel and left him unattended in the master bedroom. He turned the TV on and told the WitSec agents he wanted to rest after his harrowing arrest. He simply climbed out the window and stole a car from the parking lot."

David continued. "Our security cameras show him pulling up across the street from our building. He simply waited there until you drove out with Robin then tailed you."

"I never noticed him." Don admitted. "I never even checked for a tail."

"Why would you?" David countered.

"I should have, David. If I had, none of this would have happened."

"Come on, Donny." Alan interrupted. "Stop being so hard on yourself. You couldn't have known he would come after you. From what you were saying he was getting away scot-free so he had no reason to."

"That's true." Charlie agreed. "I had a some time while we were at the hospital and I went over it. The decision trees and projected path analysis showed this course of action was very unlikely given his position at the time and the probable negative outcomes from such risk."

Not surprised that his younger brother would have analysed the situation during his wait Don had to point out one crucial factor that Charlie would not have been able to work into his expressions. "You didn't have the whole picture to work with, Charlie. You had just six months worth of data, we don't know where he was before then or exactly what he was doing prior to going into protection. You can't say what he was or wasn't capable of."

David immediately seized on the point, turning it back on his boss. "Exactly, Don. So you couldn't have known he would try this or that he would follow you."

"But WitSec should have known the full story." Robin said. "They could have warned us."

"And we'll be checking with them tomorrow to find out exactly what they did know. The ADIC's following this very closely."

No surprise there either, the ADIC had also been very unhappy with the way WitSec had stepped in and interfered with his office.

Unable to help it a yawn escaped Don's lips. Conversation abruptly stopped as he immediately became the centre of attention once again. Sheepishly he started to apologise but another yawn threatened to crack his jaw apart and he shrugged as he rubbed a tired hand carefully over the uninjured portion of his face.

"Alright, that's enough. Everyone out." Alan ordered, standing and making shooing motions.

The house rapidly emptied until it was just the three Eppes remaining. With some help Don made it up to his old bedroom and got settled. With the next dose of painkillers in his system sleep wasn't long coming.

Once his son's breathing had deepened Alan quietly closed the door and went back downstairs, taking a seat in his favourite armchair as his youngest went to his own room. He picked up the day's paper but the words blurred, not that he was interested in reading it anyway. It had been a close call for his son, another one too many. There was no way he was getting to sleep so easily.

END


End file.
